Scott Palmer knew he needed to find something. The second stop on the 2026 IHRA Outlaw Nitro Series tour brought an eight-car Top Fuel field to Virginia Motorsports Park, and Gary Pritchett had been the quickest car all weekend, earning the No. 1 qualifying position at 3.033 seconds and 287.78 mph behind the wheel of the Foley Lewis Racing, United Garage Door Company Top Fuel dragster. Pritchett had already proven he could close the deal by winning the season opener at Galot Motorsports Park.
Palmer and his crew went to work. And when asked where he found the extra, Palmer didn’t overthink it.
“Darren Mayer blower,” he said. “That’s it. That simple.”
Palmer credited adjustments to the blower and the clutch setup from Chris Nachtmann at CNC Performance Engineering – known around the pits as “Cupcake” – as the difference in the final round.
“Those are the two things I made adjustments on and it won us the race,” Palmer said.
The adjustments worked. Palmer ran 3.075 at 270.54 mph in the final to collect $50,000 and the coveted Ironman trophy, making him the first repeat Top Fuel winner in seven IHRA Outlaw Nitro Series races dating back to the 2025 season.
Pritchett had the better reaction time, an .062 to Palmer’s .072, and was pulling away at the 330-foot mark. But the car went away in the back half of the run, slowing to a 3.183 at 208.78, and Palmer’s PBR-sponsored dragster drove around him and through the lights.
The loss stings for Pritchett, who entered the weekend as the points leader and was looking to become the first driver to go back-to-back in IHRA Top Fuel since Dale Cox Jr. in 2009.
Palmer, though, wasn’t about to apologize. He and Pritchett are close, and that made the final feel more like a family affair than a grudge match.
“We raced Gary Pritchett, who’s like family to us,” Palmer said. “One of us was going to win. I wanted Lee Callaway to win, but I messed his car up, so he may fire me from tuning my own car.”
Palmer owns two Top Fuel dragsters, with Callaway behind the wheel of his second car. He’d actually beaten Callaway in the semifinals after the car went away early in the run, which adds a layer to that “I messed his car up” crack. Before that, Palmer dispatched Chuck Loftin in the opening round when Loftin went red.
After every win, Palmer calls his mom. This one was no different.
“She was pretty proud,” he said. “She told me my burnout was weak.”
As for the celebration? Palmer made no attempt to sugarcoat it.
“It’ll be ugly about daylight. I can tell you that right now,” said Palmer. “There’ll be some wounded soldiers laying around. I promise you that. But we just have a good time. Overall, it was a great weekend for us.”
The IHRA Outlaw Nitro Series heads to Capital City Motorsports Park in Montgomery, Alabama, May 7-9 for the third event of the 2026 season.
